Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Most people would
agree that having free time to relax, to enjoy the company of friends and
family, and to pursue interests beyond their work, family or household
commitments (e.g. hobbies, entertainment, sport) is important to their personal
well-being. However, individual perceptions about what constitutes free time
and how it is spent may differ widely.

"So, what does the average people of Jakarta do when they're not working? It wouldn't be technically correct to say most of the people were using their free time to do 'nothing'."

Read
more on the next posts to seek answers to questions about Jakarta's people views on the social environment in which they lived, their use of leisure time,
their feelings about obstacles to recreation in their areas and their opinions
on how things could be improved. A number of issues emerged in relation to age,
gender and neighbourhoods/geography.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

It’s known that holding or stroking a
cat reduces blood pressure and improves one’s general state of mind. Not only
in Japan, for Korea residents, the level of everyday stress faced by the
average worker, coupled with the fact that most apartments forbid pets, has
created a niche industry: a set of cafés where, with a fee, one can bask in the
blissful company of felines. The idea
originates elsewhere but has been embraced and developed in a completely
unexpected way. Some of you might still wonder what the
fuss is all about, others will wonder what the heck is a cat café anyway, right?
Well, a cat café is basically a café where you can have a drink with a cat on your lap, something almost impossible to find in Indonesia. As an obsessed cat lover, only
hearing about cat cafe’s popping up all over the world made me hard not to feel
left out!

At ‘Cats Living’ Hongdae, one of the
many Korea cat café's you can spend a cozy afternoon in the company of cats,
right in heart of the city. One year ago, I was wandering around Hongdae to
spent my ‘me’ time because I chose not to join my friend trip to Nami Island
due to an unexplainable tiredness after walking non-stop with 4 hours of
sleep in a week, I think.Luckily, I found
‘Cats Living’ café which was at the 2nd floor of a building next to the famous `Hello Kitty Café’, and as soon as the
elevator’s doors opened, I entered into the first gated area, separated from
the rest of the room to prevent escapes. First, I put my belongings into the
locker and I was greeted by a friendly girl who told me about the price, list
of drinks, and instructions.

The rules were fun to read and pretty clear even though not written in English. Don’t bother the sleeping cats. Don’t feed them random stuff. Don’t
bully them in any way. Don't take picture with a flash. Then, I
am instructed to wash my hands and use hand sanitizer before entering the café.

Once step inside, you’re supposed to take your shoes off and wear these colorful rubber
slippers!

The fee is 8000 won with free drink and it comes with unlimited time
to play with the cats. I ordered green-tea latte anyway! Kinda perfect choice
as the one and only companion in the middle of cold-freeze weather, right? :’)

As for the actual
environment, it’s a pretty much all white room, it was quite clean, and the
furniture was minimal and mostly wicker, both of which appear to be very good
decisions (wicker is totally scratch friendly and eliminates the need for large
scratching posts, as it is built in. There were lots of platforms and shelves
for the cats to walk around on, and such. A few
sofas, chairs, and tables also were scattered throughout the café, which
emanated a relaxing, feminine atmosphere completed with soft music.

The cats, naturally,
were cute and, dare I say, rather adorable cats. In all, the “cat staff”
consists of 20 cats. However, you would never have guessed by how good it smelt
(credit goes to the employee that sprayed the equivalent of febreeze on every
fabric surface). The total number didn’t become apparent until later as more
and more revealed themselves from underneath chairs, on top of shelves and
behind corners of the small room.The cats were generally quite nice, and there was a
big variety of breeds, although I would say this cafe seemed to prefer
longhaired cats (in general) so there was a lot of poof. They were fluffy,
exotic, and seemed well taken care of.

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

A bunch of fluffy
cats were sleeping on top of each other. So cute! -Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Cutie cat over there could easily choosing your lap as a sleep-spot :')Picture by Cindy Zenata

I’m not sure if it was because I
visited in the morning, but most of the cats were sleeping. It was fun, though,
watching the cats sleep peacefully together and it spreads all over the room.
However, there are still some cats that wander around, play with each other, or
even came closer to the people, looked like they asked to be played.

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy Zenata

Picture by Cindy ZenataLook at those picture above! Even cats are fall head over heels for me! :p

If you’re interested in seeing more before going, this
video that I created by myself on 'YouTube' shows the inside of Cats Living. Be
prepared for a tons of adorable cats!

The best moments came not only from my
own interaction with the cats but also from the enjoyable atmosphere. I had the
most amazing time and It would be wonderful if I could pay a visit for the
second time!